Celebrating Church In Church

Today is the day we celebrate Pentecost. The day the first Christian church was started.

So what did I do that was so special?

I went to my new home church for the first time.

One of my favorite Pastor’s from my old church has started his own church, before I left for Australia they were meeting in his house, while in Australia, they found a larger place to meet, and are currently working for a building to truly call our own.

It was good seeing Dennis again. I love his teaching, and I love the feel of the church.

Anyone but Jay might take what I am about to say as an insult, but is actually quite a compliment.

CCF (Dennis’s Church) has quite a 3^rd world country church feel to it.

What is that suppose to mean Edward?

Anyone who has been in a church service in a 3^rd world country can see that whoever is there is there because they REALLY want to be there. They have music which is primarily based on a keyboard, and NO one can hold a note to save their life, but EVERYone sings anyway because they actually want to. It is plain and simple and yet filled with heart and love.

Church the way I think it should be. Sure, there are a couple people there I could do without, but, that will always happen ANYwhere.

The point is… it was awesome.

Being that CCF is conveniently located near Ed and Lulu’s house, and I have yet to see Lindsey, I thought I’d swing by.

Very glad I did.

I walked in and Ed said, “Lindsey, who’s here?” she looked up at me, and ran into the kitchen with her drink. “well that was uneventful” I thought to myself, then, suddenly, she came running around the couch with open arms yelling “EDWARD!” and leaped into my arms.

I must have hugged her for 10 minutes and it still wasn’t enough.

I cannot believe how good that feeling was. It made me look forward to being a father.

Lindsey having been seen, it was time to visit my other adopted niece and her older brother. So I drove to Phil’s house and he wasn’t there, didn’t matter, I was there for Angie and the kids anyway. Nic is huge! And Sonia is growing up so much…

Can so much really change in 6 months?!

I wonder what other changes I have to catch up on.

It is good to be home.

Different.

But good.

Scaling A Lizard

Just a little off of Highway 154 near the Gun Club is a little known place referred to as “Lizard’s Mouth”.

Why is it called Lizard’s Mouth? Well, probably because it looks like a giant Lizard’s head with its mouth stretched open wide. See:



The original plan was to have a large group of people go.

I don’t know what happened to all of you, but, I at least got to see Thomas, Theresa, and Patty again.



PLUS! Austin and Brian!!!



Thomas also brought up a group from his church college group. The city slickers having retreated back down the mountain to Santa Barbara (with the girls) the 4 of us Camp Staffers who were left decided to set out on a quest for adventure!!!



Actually, we started looking for a specific boulder with a cave on the inside of it that ended up turning into an adventure.

The first time Brian and I went there, was while we were both Aquatics staff in 2007. We found this awesome rock, that me, him, and our other friend Tyler could all fit in (note, we are all 6ft or taller). In all our return trips up there, we have never found it again. So, we went looking for it.

Didn’t find it…

We did however find a lot of cool stuff! Like this cave for example:




And check out the contrast between the dead burned branches from the Gap fire a few years ago, and the brand new growth from this spring growing ON the burned branches:



Nature is AMAZING!

Then there was “Eagle’s Head” rock formation:



Despite the rough and ruggedness of our journey:





There were some moments that we got to relax and catch our breath



You see, there was a trail at one point… but then we left it, and began to make our own



And the result of us deciding to make our own trail:



Nevertheless! The four of us came out of the wilderness victorious! (alive)



Then there was a drive to the Ranch to have lunch and visit Mom Liz. On this drive, I got to see something I haven’t seen in a really long time…

The Santa Ynez Valley and Lake Cachuma from the North bound downward slope off the Pass:



After a lunch of Ranch Pizza (which by the way, as proof that my stomach has shrank, I was only able to have 3 slices of) we drove to the other side of the Ranch and visited Lizard aka Mom Liz. My camp Mom/Austin’s REAL Mom.

Home

It is good to be back on the Central Coast

Tomorrow, mass visit with more people I haven’t seen yet and some other form of adventure!

Ignacio Anaya = My Hero

Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya was an employee of a small restaurant called “the Victory Club” in Piedras Negras, Mexico. One night in the early 1940’s after the kitchen had closed, a group of people came in extremely hungry asking for whatever he had available. Not knowing what else to do, he went into the kitchen, got some chips and melted some cheddar cheese on top and threw on some sliced Jalapenos. He then brought them out to the table and presented the dish as “Nacho’s Especiales” (Nacho’s special dish).

Your history lesson of the day complete… allow me to continue with my story.

So while I was in Australia, the Robin to my Batman finally got his driver’s license and decided to take a bit of an adventure to the north part of the county. After driving up and spending the night, Matt and I drive down to Santa Barbara where I reunited with many of my Santa Barbarian friends like Ryan.



We of course must follow tradition and go to Rose café on the Mesa.

Why go specifically there?

Because they have the BEST Nachos in Santa Barbara!

While enjoying the best Nachos in Santa Barbara (beef, beans, rice, cheese, and CILANTRO!) our friend Thomas informs us that today is his graduation. Being the good friend I am (and having nothing else to do and always being up for an adventure) I take the chance to spend some more time with my old friend (and of course visit with my favorite ex who happens to be his little sis)



After graduation, Matt and I visit our other old friend Gerard, the Lodge Chief who I served as Vice Lodge Chief to. Funny in hind sight looking at myself as “Vice Lodge Chief” to anyone after having been Lodge Chief myself for 2 years. Anyway, Matt, Tony, and I hung out with Gerard for a bit then headed back to Thomas’s house where Matt totally kicked our asses in Scrabble (beginners luck mind you) and Thomas was so kind as to give me a ride home.

Tomorrow: a day I have been looking forward to for quite awhile!

Hike to Lizard’s Mouth!!!

Further Up and Further In!

As most of you know, The Chronicles of Narnia are my favorite series of books. (Spoiler alert!) The end of the last book, “The Last Battle” ends kind of like The Departed.

…everybody dies (except Mark Walberg).

Once everyone is dead, and all the old friends are reunited in what is called “Aslan’s Country – The TRUE Narnia”. In other words… Heaven.

You see, the Earth we live in, C.S. Lewis calls “The Shadowlands”. This life is nothing more than a shadow of eternal life. Look at your shadow. It is a glimpse of your own shape, but it is certainly not a very good, very accurate portrayal of what you really look like is it? Nowhere near as good as a mirror or picture. This is what C.S. Lewis used to try to explain the contrast between this life and the next.

So what did Aslan’s Country look like?

It was richer in color, it was like the difference between watching something in 1950’s black and white, and then seeing something in 2011 HD Blue Ray disc (ya, that’s right, it’s 2010 and I said 2011 that’s how awesome the difference is). The mountains where taller, grass greener, water sweeter, one could run and not grow weary, walk for ages and not faint.

What does this all have to do with anything?

(Waiver: to my Aussie friends, take no offence to this, this is more about being home than it does about not being other places, I would love to still be with ya’lls)

I have been home for a couple days now and I have noticed something…

The hills overlooking Santa Maria look bigger.

I know, it sounds odd, I’m sure it is not really the case, especially since if anything; due to erosion they should technically be smaller.

…but they look bigger.

Every time I look at the hills, they look larger than I left them. Even Mount Figueroa in the distance seems bigger.

It reminds me of the last two chapters of “The Last Battle”.

I think I now have a much better understanding of what C.S. Lewis was talking about when he described Heaven.

I am not saying the Central Coast IS Heaven… I am just saying, I have an even greater appreciation for it than I did before, and “I can only imagine” what Heaven will be like compared to all the beauty that I have seen here on a “corrupted” Earth whether in Kenya, Thailand, Micronesia, Central America, or even my own back yard here on the Central Coast…



…Heaven looks like it will be AMAZING!

Welcome Home

“California, here I come
Right back where I started from
Where bowers are flowers bloom in the spring
Each morning at dawning
Birdies sing and everything
A sun kissed miss said “Don’t be late!”
That’s why I can hardly wait,
Open up that Golden Gate!
California, here I come!”


Well, actually, I’m already here.

Funny how one moment you can be so sad to leave a place you love (like Australia for example) and yet the next moment you can be so over joyed to be in a place you love (like the Central Coast for example).


I forgot that Fiji is in the Southern Hemisphere, which means I didn’t get to see a Fijian sunset. I did however get one final glimpse of the Southern Cross from the airplane during takeoff from Fiji. Then I got to LAX almost a half hour before I was supposed to and practically flew through customs, which, would have been awesome had I had someone waiting for me. Instead though… I got to wait two and a half hours until my shuttle came.

I’m not sure how long I made it… but I fell asleep in the shuttle pretty quick. Ended up waking up just awhile from Santa Barbara. Made a switch in Goleta.

Only an hour more!!!

Then, it happened, we pulled off the freeway at Main St.

Pulled up to the curb, from the window I could see Phil’s truck and Deanna’s Honda with her and Val inside talking to Phil.

Home

I stepped off the shuttle, grabbed my sea bags, and walked over to Deanna’s Honda, dropping my bag and hugging Val.

This is the first time they have seen me in nearly a half year. Val nearly pissed himself. He was in amazement. So much so, he picked me up, something he hasn’t been able to do in awhile. My bag’s went into the Deanna’s car, I got into Phil’s truck, and we went back to my house where my Madre had some enchiladas waiting for us.

Home

My mother nearly choked me while giving me a hug. Phil kept commenting on the fact that his hands met in my back when we hugged. Val made me get on the scale and tell me how much I was when I left before I got on. Then Luke (who is on occasion called “Donny”) showed up, and a good time was had by all.

Home

Everyone went to sleep. I couldn’t. I stayed up.

I drove around town for a little bit (on the American side of the road) then, having concluded my tour of Santa Maria with a bit of a pit stop, I turn the wheel to return back to base. The moment I get on to the freeway, a new (to me) song came on the radio that ended as I pulled up to the house.

The end of the day felt like the end of an episode of House, where they montage what is going on with all the cast and specifically with House himself while they play a song that fits the situation perfectly to really bring emotion to what is going on with the characters…

…I found this song very fitting to the current situation:

Even Rocky Had a Montage

Time in Australia = over.

Sad day.

It is also however, a good day to look back at my time here, and see what I have accomplished.

15 Feb 09: the day after St. Valentine’s Day, and the day after I broke free of the clutches of the succubus.
Weight: 315+ pounds (143+ kg)
Neck/Belly measurement: 18.5/53+ inches (47/137+ cm)
BMI: 35.5%

I was beginning to feel quite down on myself and lacking moral… it was a bit like this:






Ok, I didn’t take the EAC to get there, but, Paul does have the same awesome beard that Sir Anthony Hopkins is sporting in that last seen.

December 4th 2009
Me with my newely found in the airport friend Kai:



Ya… fatty… I know…


5 months of back breaking work in an Australian farm town during their summer…




So, after all that work… take another quick look at the above picture… and now…


16 May 10:




Yes I know I’m wearing the same shirt… I PLANNED IT that way.

Weight: 245 pounds (111 kg)
Neck/Belly measurement: 16.75/41.5 inches (42.5/105 cm)
BMI: 24.75%



BMI lost: 10.75 %

Navy requirement: 22%

Still not quite there, but way closer then I was





As sad as I am to say goodbye to Australia, I am glad to say goodbye to bad health.


A new adventure to come…

ONWARD!

Aus and CA

No matter how much I love Australia…





No matter where I was actually born…




CALIFORNIA is my home!




...and, to paraphrase a group of fellow Southern Californians…




Well Sydney girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Aussie girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I’m down there

The Leeton farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright
And the Melbou_ne girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night

I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be Californiaaaaa Girls

The North coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a French bikini on cook island
Birds by a palm tree in the sand

I been all around this great big world
And I seen all kinds of girls
Yeah, but I couldn’t wait to get back in the states
Back to the cutest girls in the world

I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be Californiaaaa Girls…


Raise your glass everyone, here’s one for going home!


Cheers Mates!